Embodiments of the present disclosure generally relate to wire retention seals for terminal assemblies.
Terminal assemblies are used to provide power and/or data signals between various components. Some known terminal assemblies require environmental sealing between the wire and the terminal. Such terminal assemblies provide a seal in the terminal that is compressed with the wire barrel of the terminal during the crimping operation to corm the seal around the wire. The seal typically conforms to the terminal and has little or no interface with the wire prior to being crimped around the wire. A problem with such known terminal assemblies is that the terminal and seal tends to shift or move relative to the wire during handling and loading of the terminal into the crimping machine, leading to the possibility of the terminal and wire being improperly positioned during the crimping process and leading to a poor electrical connection and/or a poorly sealed connection.
Other known terminal assemblies utilize an O-ring positioned in a seal cavity in the terminal that provides sealing between the wire and the terminal. However, the O-rings provide inconsistent seal performance and in some cases complete failure when the O-ring is misplaced out of the seal cavity during wire insertion.
Accordingly, a need exists for a simpler and more efficient wire seal for crimped terminal assemblies.